


A (Not) Forgotten Dream

by VinesSystem



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Persona 3 Spoilers, Post-Canon Fix-It, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27339328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VinesSystem/pseuds/VinesSystem
Summary: Last night, Junpei had went to sleep in his dorm, thinking of their leader- his best friend- who had passed away because of some Persona bullshit months ago....So why did Junpei wake up to that same man, Alive and well?
Relationships: Arisato Minato/Iori Junpei
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	A (Not) Forgotten Dream

Junpei Iori wasnt that much of a morning person, being a bit groggy in the mornings before getting ready for school.

But opening his eyes afer an increasingly rare good night's rest to a place he didn't recognize?  
Let's just say he shook off his sleep pretty quickly.

The first thing he noticed was that he was wearing a tank top and sweats, instead of what he went to bed with. the bed was practically gigantic compared to his small twin size.  
Well, really, the FIRST thing he noticed was that he wasn't IN his dorm. He noticed a lot of things after that.  
Beside the bed was a night stand with a picture frame, a dresser in the corner, pictures of people smiling...

...The people in these pictures look familiar. way, way too familiar. Junpei looked closer, seeing two people who looked a lot like... Minato and Junpei.

...Minato's supposed to be...

The doppleganger's hair was longer, looked taller, less skinny. He looked so much like Minato that he felt a chill run up his spine.

Junpei's doppleganger looked different, too. His hair was longer, features a bit sharper.  
It's like someone used those aging programs that they used on pictures of kids who've been missing for years.  
Physically doing a once-over on his own body, it matched up. Junpei was so confused, and he wanted answers.

He slowly walked out of the bedroom to see if there were any clues elsewhere.  
Passing by trinkets, more pictures, He noticed that the majority of them were the members of S.E.E.S with the same weird age thing done to them as the picture in the bedroom.  
...He smelled something. It might've been what woke him up, but he realized he could smell food.  
Junpei quickened his search. Either he was going to find someone to give him answers, or he was going to have to fight.  
He didn't wake up with his Evoker on him, but Akihiko didn't force those boxing lessons on them for no reason!

Finally reaching what seemed to be the kitchen, he turned the corner and saw something that froze him solid.

Blue hair, a familiar blue-sleeved shirt, ever-present headphones around his neck.

Junpei gaped at the man in front of him, his mind unable to process what he was seeing.  
Eventually the man noticed his presence, slowly turning around to face him.

It was... "...Minato?" Junpei choked out, not quite ready to speak more than his name, but the other man filled in the space.  
"Hey, Junbear. I made some fried eggs and rice for breakfast, come get some." He casually invited, not realized he'd shattered Junpei's mind in more ways than one as he went about getting his portion.

Minato was here? How? Where are they? Why is Minato acting so nonchalantly, after seemingly being brought back from the dead?  
...Did he call him Junbear?

While Junpei was preoccupied with trying to figure out literally anything that was happening in the current moment, Minato had finished getting his food, looking back at him expectantly.  
Noticing the state of shock Junpei was in, Minato's face quickly shifted into worry. "Are you okay?" Then sympathy. "Did you have another nightmare, Jun?"  
He walked over to Junpei, allowing him to inspect him closer.

Minato looked so much less... He didn't want to say subdued, but the only other thing that came to mind was... Carefree.  
which didn't particularly fit him right now, seeing as he was worrying over Junpei.  
With Minato staring at him like that finally snapping him out of his thoughts, Junpei tried again to speak.

"...How are you..." Junpei started, hesitating to finish.  
Minato raised an eyebrow at him. "Not quite the intonation you're supposed to use, but, I'm fine. Are you?"  
After not receiving a response other than disbelieving staring, Minato reached up to grab Junpei's shoulders, steering him towards the dining table. "I think you need to sit down, come on." Junpei unthinkingly obeyed, sitting down and finally working up the nerve to finish.

"How are you... Alive? You... You died." Junpei asked slowly, his voice not much louder than a whisper.  
Minato's face went from questioning to understanding in an instant, crouching down to be eye level with Junpei.  
He cradled Junpei's head in his hands, stroking his face with his thumbs as he soothingly said, "Hey, hey. It's ok. It was just a dream, I'm right here." Minato had such warmth in his voice that Junpei almost wanted to believe it.

Slowly shaking his head, Junpei continued.  
"No, no no no, I-I was just in the dorms and, You-You've been dead for months! After graduation, you..." Junpei's voice lowered to a whisper.  
"You just went to sleep and didn't wake up." He finished.

Finally, Realization dawned in Minato's eyes, Slowly taking his hands away and standing up straight.  
"You mean, when I sealed Nyx." Minato said, looking at Junpei in a new light.  
Junpei nodding caused Minato to take a deep breath, examining Junpei as if he were a secret to uncover. After a moment, He spoke.

"I don't think you're my Junpei."

\--------

After dropping that bombshell, Minato had sat down across from Junpei and started thinking. Real heavy arms crossed, head resting on his chin, Thinking.  
The silence was about to become too much for Junpei when Minato finally broke it.  
"I don't remember much of what happened before I died." Minato slowly admitted.  
"Afterwards, Jun and the others had tried some way to bring me back, and..." He trailed off.  
"...Didn't work, huh?" Junpei finished, thinking back to the past few months of everyone grieving their leader and friend.

Minato nodded. "Then... he had this dream. I was alive. We were together, smiling and laughing..." Minato gave a small smile. "...together as in dating?" Junpei hopefully asked for clarification, causing Minato to laugh.  
"Yeah. after I came back, he said that he loved me, and that he wasn't going to lose me again." Pausing to chuckle, Minato continued. "Quite the way to ask someone out, eh?" he looked over at Junpei, who's face had a dusting of pink on it.  
"Y-yeah, real uh, smooth." Junpei mumbled, scratching at his neck in embarrassment.

"Anyway. he said that dream gave him some idea on how to bring me back." Junpei's eyes widened, "How?" he asked, getting a shrug in return. "Couldn't tell ya! Didn't want me to know just in case it undid it."  
Junpei cursed his other (future?) self, because seriously, why can't this be easy?? "Man, is this some kind of fairytale or something? are you snow white? Do you not buy any apples??"  
letting out a laugh, Minato tried to be serious. "I mean, I wouldn't mind giving up apples if it meant I had this." Waving at the house, smiling fondly at all the different mementos covering it, he looked back at Junpei with that warm smile.  
"Wouldn't you?"

Junpei looked at Minato, at the guy he loved but never told, happier and more open than he had seen him before.  
He couldn't find any reason to disagree. "...Yeah." he weakly replied.  
Finding that statement not enough, he continued on, "Yeah. I mean, Like I said..." he took a deep breath, speaking quieter with every word before it was barely a whisper, looking down at his hands. "I would do... anything not to lose you."

Minato huffed a laugh, causing Junpei to look up from his hands at him. "Funny, It's the same for me." with a fond yet sad smile on his face, no doubt thinking about his own Junpei, he continued. "I wouldn't give up what I have now for anything. I don't want you to miss out on that."

He paused. "...I wish Jun was here. He'd be able to help." Laughing a bit, Junpei shrugged. "I'm here now, aren't I?" Minato chuckled with a wave of his hand. "You know what I mean."  
Nodding, he sighed, thinking about the past. "I really do choose the worst moments to flake out and jet, huh?" Shaking his head, Minato echoed, "You're here now, aren't you?"  
"You know what I mean!" Junpei unintentionally echoed back, causing both men to share a laugh, with silence following.

"Didn't you..." Junpei started, trailing off into his thoughts. Minato gave an inquisitive hum, leading the other man to continue.  
"Didn't you say he said something about a dream that kicked his ass into high gear? Like, about sappy stories and stuff?"  
Humming, Minato agreed. "Maybe it's connected to this..." Minato waved a hand at Junpei. "This thing happening."

...Junpei had an idea. "Hey, maybe we can, I dunno. make this that dream?" Minato thoughtfully held his chin, thinking for a second.  
"Well, if it's not too weird hearing stories about you, but, not, about you..."  
Junpei scoffed. "Like I said, if it's the cost of making all this stuff reality, I can deal with some weirdness!"  
Minato nodded, getting up from his seat and walking over to where Junpei was sitting. "Alright then. Where should we start?" He asked while offering his hand for Junpei to take.  
Excited to get explanations for the weirder knick-knacks around, he happily took Minato's hand.

"Ok, so- What in the HELL is up with that thing?" he exclaimed, pointing at a small, mysterious figure with sharp pointy bits coming out of it that sat on the coffee table for whatever reason.  
"Would you believe that Yukari had a brief fascination with surrealist sculpting?" "Yuka-tan? YEAH I would! How'd you end up with it?!"  
"Well, It was after she had broken up with somebody..."

\-----

"Wait, Mitsuru-san did WHAT to that guy?!"  
"Hey, would you expect anything less from a woman who's always saying she'll 'Execute' people?"

\-----

"--So we found out that Ken is surprisingly good at hiding things. We didn't find it until you could smell the rotting onions through the whole building."  
"Jesus, the kid couldn't have asked Fuuka-chan for help??"

\-----

"You really proved that day that you do, in fact, have at least one romantic bone in your body."  
"You're blushing even thinking about it! Oh I am SO going to burn that into my brain, I need that for later."

\-----

After so many stories and so much information shared, the two were sitting side by side on the (what Minato apparently thought was too big) couch in the living room, watching whatever cartoons were on.  
Catching a re-run of a Featherman V episode, Minato saw an opportunity for another tidbit. "Hey, while we're on the subject of what everyone's doing nowadays..."  
Pausing for dramatic effect, he waited for a group shot of the Phoenix Rangers.  
"Did you know that's Yukari?" He finished while pointing at Pink Argus. Junpei stared in awe, eventually exclaiming "Yuka-tan's on TV?!" "Yep, she got the job a while ago. I think she's basically a celebrity now." Junpei let out a whistle, "Daaamn, She's goin' places! You ever think about being a celebrity?"  
Looking over at Minato, he simply shrugged. "I prefer to just be known as 'That one-eyed library weirdo.' Don't want to tarnish my hard-earned reputation by people knowing me from somewhere else!"

Junpei barked out a laugh, "Of course you're the library weirdo! I remember how super focused you got during exams, you totally freaked people out!" "Like I said, hard-earned." Minato easily replied, softly chuckling.  
"This has been nice. I haven't gotten to tell any of these stories in a while." Leaning back,he exhaled a sigh. "There's so many memories I've made here. with everyone else. I'm... glad that I've been able to."  
Nodding, Junpei sensed the tone shift. "Yeah. I... I want him to get to experience this stuff too." Thinking back to his Minato. The one that this dream was... supposed to help somehow.

"You know," Minato started "I think you can do it. You did it once. So," A shrug. "There isn't any reason you can't do it again." Leaning back as well, Junpei groaned. "I hope I can! Seeing all this, I... don't know what'll happen if I can't."  
"Eh, you can worry about that later. Right now we've got some Featherman to watch." Junpei chuckled at the second abrupt tone shift, when all of a sudden he felt a wave of exhaustion hit him.  
He let out a yawn, making Minato curiously peer over at him. "Oh, It's- I'm just tired, s'all."  
After thinking for a moment, Minato spread his arms out. "You can sleep if you want. I've heard from very trustworthy sources that my lap is comfortable."

Normally, Junpei would balk at the intimacy of the suggestion, overthinking how awkward it would be. But right now, tired as he was?  
"...Yeah, sure. I'll take ya up on that offer..." Junpei yawned out, somehow only seconds away from sleep. Once his head hit Minato's lap, he instinctively started to run his fingers through Junpei's hair.  
Slightly looking up at Minato, Junpei had one last thing to say. "'m gonna bring you back... Promise." he mumbled, barely able to keep his eyes open.  
Minato softly smiled in response, ruffling his hair slightly. "I know you are."  
With his promise made, Junpei closed his eyes, letting himself into the same sleep that brought him here in the first place,  
Only thinking of Minato.

\--------

An hour or so later, Minato was still left with an asleep Junpei in his lap. He was still thinking of the time-traveling younger version of his boyfriend when his current one woke up.  
Junpei was grumbling in his sleep, seemingly fighting sleep when he opened his eyes and looked up at Minato, making him smile. "Hey min..." he paused. "...why're we on the couch?"  


with Junpei sitting up to begin glancing around, he looked very lightly confused, so Minato thought he should start explaining.  
But first... "It's a bit of a long story. You want some coffee, Junbear?" Receiving a mumbled noise of confirmation, Minato shuffled off the couch. Perking up, Minato remembered something- "Oh, I also made some eggs and rice for breakfast!" Junpei gave a quiet cheer to that, making Minato laugh as he walked off to start some coffee.

Now he just had to piece together how to tell Junpei he had made his own dream come true.

**Author's Note:**

> SURPRISE TIME LOOP CLOSE!
> 
> WHEW THIS GOT LONG! this is set probably after Ultimax, with Junpei and Minato getting together a year or so after graduation/Minato's death-but-not-really-cus-i-say-so. As a wise writer once say, take canon and roast it in the oven at 400*F until well done and take the best parts!!!!  
> The little exerpts of stories were fun to write lol. Mitsuru (rightfully) attacking guys, Ken hiding a horrible kitchen mistake, Yukari getting into surrealist sculpting, and Junpei trying to burn the most romantic thing he's ever done into his brain to remember when he's awake were all really funny to think about LOL  
> OH ALSO REFERENCES TO LOVEY-DOVEY JUNPEI/MINATO NICKNAMES <3<3<3<3 MINMIN AND JUNBEAR!!!!
> 
> I'm really proud of this one! I had an outline planned, but while trying to write down some potential dialogue i....ended up writing the entire thing at 3am on my phone. OOPS!
> 
> this is getting long. I havent seen any kind of fic like this in the persona fandom so i hope you enjoy it!! see ya next fic!!


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